Techmeme
February 12, 2018, 3:40 PM

Top News

Wired:
A behind-the-scenes look at two tumultuous years at Facebook as it battled with fake news, its impact on the election, global affairs, and users' minds  —  ONE DAY IN late February of 2016, Mark Zuckerberg sent a memo to all of Facebook's employees to address some troubling behavior in the ranks.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is changing its iOS development strategy, moving away from an annual schedule crammed with major features and prioritizing reliability  —  The company is shaking up its development program to focus more on key features and push back others to the following year.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Android P to have deeper Google Assistant integration, better battery life, support for iPhone X-like notches, multiple screens, and foldable displays  —  Search giant tries again to win over valuable iPhone users  —  Android P to integrate more tightly with Google's Assistant
Matt Day / The Seattle Times:
Source: in a rare cutback, Amazon is laying off several hundred corporate employees in Seattle and hundreds elsewhere across its global operations  —  Amazon is cutting several hundred jobs in Seattle, and hundreds elsewhere, a rare layoff that appears to fall predominantly on its established consumer retail business.
Steven Musil / CNET:
SEC filing: Apple, LG, Valve invest in $10M secondary share offering by eMagin, a NY-based manufacturer of OLED microdisplays, which can be used in VR headsets  —  A small company that makes OLED microdisplays is getting some attention from tech giants with big plans for virtual and augmented reality.
Aaron Tilley / The Information:
Source: Amazon is designing its own AI chip for use in Echo and other Alexa-powered devices, following its 2015 acquisition of chip maker Annapurna Labs  —  Amazon.com is developing a chip designed for artificial intelligence to work on the Echo and other hardware powered by Amazon's Alexa virtual assistant …
Taylor Lorenz / The Daily Beast:
585K+ people sign petition on Change.org calling for Snapchat redesign to be reverted, as celebs such as Chrissy Teigen, Kylie Jenner, MKBHD express disapproval  —  Last week Snapchat rolled out its biggest redesign since the app launched in 2011.  —  The company split the app into two sections …
Alex Heath / Cheddar:
Source: Snap's VP of Sales Jeff Lucas has left the company after joining less than two years ago  —  Jeff Lucas, Snap Inc.'s VP of Sales, has left the company, Cheddar has learned.  —  His departure comes after working for less than two years at Snap, which he joined after serving as ad sales chief at Viacom.
More: Adweek and Seeking AlphaTweets: @petersonteeThanks:@jonsteinberg
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
eMarketer says Facebook lost ~2.8M US users under 25 in 2017, predicts it will lose ~2.1M in 2018; Instagram's US users will grow 13%, Snapchat's by 9% in 2018  —  That's according to research firm eMarketer.  —  Facebook is losing young users even quicker than expected, according to new estimates by eMarketer.
Fitz Tepper / TechCrunch:
Instagram tests a feature showing users who has taken screenshots of their stories  —  Instagram is testing a feature that will show users when someone else takes a screenshot of their story.  Users included in the test are getting a warning that the next time they take a screenshot …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
YapStone has raised $71M in Series C financing, aiming for $100M+, to take on PayPal, Stripe, and more in marketplace payments  —  While a part of the fintech world remains abuzz with crypo-talk, a startup that's built a business around the more traditional world of payments has raised …
More: PR Newswire and PE Hub BlogTweets: @ingridlunden
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook is promoting its user data tracking Onavo VPN, which it acquired in 2013, under a “Protect” tab within its main mobile app on iOS  —  Onavo Protect, the VPN client from the data-security app maker acquired by Facebook back in 2013, has now popped up in the Facebook app itself …
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed:
Technologist who predicted “fake news”, Aviv Ovadya, and other experts warn new AI-powered tools to manipulate perception could erode people's trust in reality  —  In mid-2016, Aviv Ovadya realized there was something fundamentally wrong with the internet — so wrong that he abandoned his work and sounded an alarm.

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 03/28 - Claude 3 Opus Surpasses GPT-4 For The First Time
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:40 PM ET, February 12, 2018.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Kif Leswing / Business Insider:
Chris Williams / The Register: